Roald Dahl’s classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory features lovable chocolatier Willy Wonka’s obsession with creating the next big thing.
There are no Oompa Loompas on Freshgro’s farms in Nottinghamshire, but there’s something of the Willy Wonkas about managing director Martin Evans and his admirable plans to make carrots into the ultimate versatile snack.
“I would love to sell carrots in a vending machine,” he enthuses. “I’ve done research for carrot Wotsits and that kind of thing. And I have an idea to take a slice of carrot, half bake it and sell it like biltong.”
That’s just the start of it – Evans believes there is great potential for adding things like raspberry and chocolate to the root vegetable, as well as Mexican and Mediterranean flavours and even space dust.
It might not sound like it, but there’s great pragmatism at the heart of Evans’ thinking – he accepts that the humble carrot is not the easiest sell, but by compromising a little bit on the pure product by adding tempting ingredients or presenting it in a different format, there is real potential to enthuse consumers. “We [the industry] are using sterile health messages and that doesn’t stand a chance,” he says. “Let’s give consumers what they want, not what they don’t.”
Doing exactly that, Freshgro recently launched a new carrot snack pack featuring Chantenay and humous into Morrisons, with production supported by the addition of a new 250 sq ft high-care area to prepare the line. It’s the latest move to boost what Freshgro hopes will be an exciting future for both snacking formats and Chantenays themselves, and if the packs sell well then the sky could be the limit. “Before Coca-Cola sold Diet and Zero, they just sold Coke,” he stresses.
It is through innovation that producers can create a point of difference and a margin for themselves, he adds. “At the moment as an industry we are all producing 1kg packs of carrots, so what option are we giving retailers other than [to compete on] price?” Evans asks. “We must give them options.”
In further developments Freshgro appears ready to discuss licensing the rights to produce Chantenays to growers abroad, with South Africans and Australians known to be interested. While there are imitations grown in other places, true Chantenays are from Britain and Evans believes there will be significant interest from growers around the world in the variety.
For the future, Evans says he would love to “get something new and exciting into McDonald’s” and play a part in the huge fast-food market. It’s not easy to get noticed, but Evans is experienced enough to play the patient long-game. “We keep knocking on the door. Everyone is searching for new products but nobody is brave enough. If we hadn’t been there with Chantenays 10 years ago I would be depressed.”
But with retail interest in Freshgro’s innovative products apparently rising by the day, and a managing director armed with a bag full of new ideas, there seems to be little to be depressed about.
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